Led by four wicketkeepers, of whom only Dhoni played in 2017. Sangakkara has the most dismissals (33), stumpings (5) and catches by keepers (28). M. Jayawardene has the most catches (15) by a non-keeper. BB McCullum and Dravid played several matches as keepers and non-keepers.

Best innings fielding (4 or more dismissals):

Buttler is the only one with 6 dismissals, though the lesser-known DO Obuya of Kenya has the most stumpings (3). NL McCullum and GJ Maxwell have each taken 4 catches as fielders, while Sarfraz Ahmed had the best innings performance for keepers in 2017.

Dismissal rate: Minimum 15 innings, rate 0.400 and above:

Sangakkara has the highest dismissal rate followed by Dhoni, while DJ Bravo has the highest for non-keepers. Shoaib Malik has the highest rate among current non-keepers

All-round performance (note the criteria):

JH Kallis is the only consistent all-rounder, with a much better performance than the other contender Shahid Afridi.

All-round match performance (30 runs and 3 wickets in a match):

The best performances were by Tendulkar and Kallis (in a match-winning role in the 1998 final). Gayle and R McLaren probably had the next best performances.

No one achieved this in 2017. The last to do this was RS Bopara in 2013, who ended up on the losing side in the final.

Thus concludes our study of the statistical highlights of the Champions Trophy up to 2017. With luck, it will be revised in 2021.

Here we shall see that predicting on the basis of long-term form can be misleading.

This is being written after Pakistan beat England on Jun 14.

Let us look at all ODIs between England and Pakistan in 5 years up to Jun 13, 2017:

England led 7-2 in this period

In England, England led 4-1 (all in the summer of 2016). And the only match Pakistan won was at Cardiff.

No matches in Pakistan. On neutral grounds (UAE), England led 3-1.

So, on paper, it looked like Pakistan had no chance. But the result was something else.

Now let us do the same analysis for India and Bangladesh in the 5 years up to Jun 14, 2017

India led 5-2 with 1 no-result.

In India there were no matches.

In Bangladesh, India led 4-2 with 1 no-result

In neutral grounds (in Australia in the 2015 WC), India won 1-0

But it should be noted that the last series between India and Bangladesh was in Bangladesh in 2015, when Bangladesh won 2-1. Forgotten that already? See the series summary (and scorecards if you want):

Anyone who was following the Australia-New Zealand ODI on Jun 2 would have been frustrated with the rain delays-particularly when the rain ended play at an intriguing stage. However, you would have witnessed a couple of new records for No-Result ODIs.

Williamson’s 100 was, however, not a record. It is one of 17 centuries made in these ODIs.

Here you can see all scores of 90+ in No-Result ODIs:

The highest is 140 by Jayasuriya back in 1994. A number of current players as well as Indian players have also scored centuries in these matches. For scores in the 90s, we have Maxwell as well as PA Patel. Also note Vengsarkar’s 94* on 31 Oct 1984. If you see the date you should remember what event caused the match to be abandoned.

However, there was a new record in bowling in no-result ODIs.

5wi in No Result ODIs:

Hazlewood’s 6-52 (including the last 3 wickets in one over) are the best bowling in a no-result ODI. The previous record was 5-22 by MN Hart in a tri-series in India in 1994. This was only the 4th instance of a five-wicket haul in these ODIs.

There was also a fielding record.

3 dismissals in an innings in No Result ODIs:

GJ Maxwell became the first non-keeper to take 4 catches in an innings of a no-result ODI. The earlier record was 3 by several players. The record for dismissals by a keeper is 5, shared by Parore and Jones.

So we see that even a rain-ruined game can see new records being made.

Afterthought: there was also one record equalled for all ODIs:

4 catches by non-keepers in all ODIs:

The record for all ODIs is 5 catches by Jonty Rhodes. It has been achieved several times in Tests.

Until yesterday, Younis Khan was the only one to take 4 catches twice. Now he has been joined by GJ Maxwell, as shown above.

It is often said that India dominates Pakistan in ICC tournaments. Hence the “Mauka Mauka” ads which aired at the beginning of the 2015 World Cup.

Let us see take a closer look at the history of these encounters. First, the World Cup:

India and Pakistan never met in the World Cups of 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1987. They were somehow always drawn in different groups so they could have met only in the semi-finals or finals. It was not until 1992 that they met in the World Cup. In that tournament all teams played each other in the knockout stage.

They met in the quarter-finals in 1996, Super Six in 1999, and a pool match in 2003. India won all these matches so the feeling of a jinx over Pakistan kept growing.

In 2007, both India and Pakistan were jinxed and failed to proceed beyond the pool stage, being displaced by Bangladesh and Ireland respectively.

In 2011, India won in the semi-final and repeated this in a pool match in 2015. So India have won all 6 encounters.

If you want to see the scorecards, open this link and click on the blue square on the extreme right.

Now we go to the T20 World Championship. We will come back to the Champions Trophy at the end.

The teams met twice in the inaugural championship in 2007. Though the match in the pool stage was a tie, India got the winner’s points as they won in the bowl-out which was then the method used to determine the winner of a tied match.

Then India won against Pakistan in the final. The teams did not meet in 2009 and 2010. India won the next three encounters in 2012, 2014 and 2016. All of these were in the group stages and not the semi-final or final. Thus India leads 5-0 (including the tie) in the World T20 Championship.

For details of the bowl-out in the first match in 2007, see the commentary section rather than the scorecard.

But the story in the Champions Trophy is somewhat different:

India and Pakistan did not meet in 1998, 2000 or 2002 (when India shared the trophy with Sri Lanka). Pakistan won the first encounter in 2004 in the group stage. They did not meet in 2006. Pakistan won in 2009, also in the group stage. India finally won in 2013, in a group match on their way to the trophy.

So the jinx on Pakistan in ICC tournaments does not apply to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, where they lead India 2-1. Let us see what happens when they meet on June 4. India currently has a higher ranking than Pakistan, but that has no bearing in high-tension encounters like these.

That was before the “choking” tag came up. And it remains South Africa’s only win in an ICC tournament until now.

Tail piece: It is possible that the 2017 Champions Trophy will be the last such tournament. See the news item below which is the most recent reliable report I could find. Possibly the ICC will decide on this after this tournament is over. If held, the 2021 championship is likely to be held in India.

Here are the statistics for all CT matches from 1998 to 2013. In case there is any doubt, it also includes the qualifying matches for the teams seeded 7th to 10th in 2006 which were played just before the “main” tournament for the top 8 teams.

Batting-most runs-250 and above:

Chris Gayle leads M Jayawardene and Sangakkara. The two Sri Lankans have played the most CT matches (22).

Gayle, Ganguly and Gibbs (the three Gs?) have the most centuries (3).

For scores of 50+, Dravid leads with 6 while several others have 5.

Highest innings scores (all scores of 100 and above):

Astle and Andy Flower lead, with Astle making his score against the US on its one Championship in 2004. As we will see later, Tendulkar’s 141* featured in one of the best all-round performances in the championship.

Batting averages (minimum 15 innings batted):

Chanderpaul is just above Gayle here.

It can be seen that the highest strike rates are 88.77 by Gayle and 88.01 by Jayasuriya.

Bowling (15 or more wickets):

Headed by the relatively unheralded Kyle Mills followed by Muralitharan.

Best innings bowling (including all 5wi):

Note that the only 6-wicket haul came from one of the qualifying matches in 2006.

Best bowling averages (minimum 750 balls bowled):

Muralitharan has the best bowling average, economy rate and strike rate.

Apart from the World Cup, this is the only tournament in which all Test countries have had the opportunity to take part-though in 2017 only the top 8 are playing, with the West Indies and Zimbabwe failing to qualify. Similarly in 2019 and 2013 Bangladesh and Zimbabwe did not qualify for the top 8. In 2006 all 10 countries competed, while the “main” tournament followed immediately after the “qualifying” tournament involving the bottom 4: West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. As things turned out West Indies and Sri Lanka qualified and the former ultimately became the runners-up.

There has been only one other multinational 50/60-over tournament (other than the Champions Trophy and World Cup) where all Test countries participated. This was the Benson & Hedges World Championship in Australia in 1984-85:

All 7 Test-playing countries at that time took part. These included Sri Lanka but not the exiled South Africa. You might say this was an unofficial World Cup.

Note that the only ICC tournaments won by South Africa (1998) and New Zealand (2000) can be found here.

Footnote: If anyone wants to play around on Statsguru, they can select “ICC Champions Trophy (ICC Knockout)” in the Tournament heading, to get the aggregates for all these matches from 1998 onwards. I will be doing this in more detail over the next few days.

For the moment, the most matches played are 22 by M. Jayawardene and Sangakkara. The most runs scored is 791 by Gayle, and the most wickets 28 by the lesser-known KD Mills of New Zealand. The most dismissals are 33 by Sangakkara.

The best individual scores are 145* by NJ Astle and 145 by Andy Flower.

The best innings bowling is 6-14 by MF Mahroof of Sri Lanka. No one else has taken more than 5 wickets in an innings.